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You Should Definitely Encourage Your Child’s Dinosaur Obsession

If your kiddo has a dinosaur obsession, you should be thrilled. Science calls this an “intense interest” and says it will drive a child’s learning as well as help foster lifelong curiosity.

In fact, above-average intelligence is not unusual for kids who are enamored with dinosaurs, or any subject that generates a natural strong interest.

The same thing goes for a focus on cars, trucks, trains, dolls, drawing, etc. If a child shows an incredible fondness in something, it can be a very good thing.

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In this post, I’m going to talk specifically talk about dinos because it’s such a popular interest among kids.

Why a Dinosaur Obsession Is So Great

“When we’re interested in what we’re learning, we pay closer attention; we process the information more efficiently; we employ more effective learning strategies…” – source

That’s precisely why boys and girls who are fascinated with dinosaurs can tell you the names of so many of them. They find them incredibly interesting which makes them want to seek out new information about the prehistoric creatures.

Dino fans want to know what a particular dinosaur ate, how it sounded, and how its looks differ from others.

Any parent who has called a dinosaur anything other than its proper scientific name knows how happy a 4-year-old will be to correct you.

“That’s not a Mosasaurus, Mom! That’s a Spinosaurus!”

PS: I can’t pronounce either of those things and I had to Google to be able to spell them. A 4-year-old would wipe the floor with me in a dinosaur recognition contest.

Researchers have found again and again that when a child is excited by something, like dinosaurs, their attention span is better, they learn better, and they often have above-average intelligence.

Fun Ways You Can Promote Curiosity About Dinosaurs

There is so much incredible content online that you can use to engage with the little dinosaur-lover in your life. I want to share some of the most interesting, fun things I’ve found. Including these awesome Dinosaur finds HERE.

Have a Daring Dino Dinner

Invite some other dino-obsessed kids over and throw a party they’ll never forget.

Games

Jurassic World Alive is generating a lot of buzz. Dinosaurs are running free in the world and it’s up to game players to prevent another extinction. They’ll have the opportunity to learn a lot and to have a blast doing it.

In closing, be glad your child is crazy for dinos.

So long as you don’t turn their dinosaur obsession into work, they’ll continue to learn without any help. If you can gently add to their love of the pre-historic creatures by showing interest yourself, that’s even better.

Does your kiddo soak up everything there is to know about dinosaurs? What kinds of things do you do to encourage it? Have you found books or toys that you’d recommend? Please share!

33 comments

As a SPED teacher who often works with kids on the AU spectrum, I see this sort of interest level often. AU kids focus on things like dinosaurs, trains, and elevators to an impressive extreme. I’ve also seen the tendency confuse parents. They think this interest level will broaden. I would like to see this sort of data contrasted to the data presented in the article.

Hi Carrie,

My name is Jonathan, and as a “former” kid with an unending interest in dinosaurs, I want to assure you that in many children, the interest level will absolutely broaden (I wouldn’t have actually been able to become a professional paleontologist and amateur musician/weekend racer if that were not the case). Perhaps this is with most children that show such a driving interest in a single subject, this will later allow them to understand other subjects at levels that other people do not.

Jon, I agree with your comment. My 17-year old has had an obsession with dinosaurs since he was 3. We are looking at colleges now, but unfortunately most colleges only offer a geology degree with some courses in paleontology. Just curious, what was your bachelor’s degree in and where did you go to school? I know the master’s degree in paleontology is more available and he will seek that out when he is done with his bachelor’s degree. Appreciate any feedback. – Joanie

Jon,

My 13 year old daughter has been fascinated with dinosaurs since she was 4. She swears she still wants to be a paleontologist. Can you give me recommendations on how she can work towards persuing that career? We live in California. Thank you very much!

Karisma

I wouldn’t say my kids are obsessed with Dinosaurs but we do have a huge collection of dinosaur books. We LOVE the “How Do Dinosaurs…” series by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague. We also have Dinosaurs Love Underpants, Dinner for Dinos, I Dreamt I Was a Dinosaur and various other dino books. We love to read!!

I use to have paper grocery sacks full of plastic and rubber dinosaurs. I would quote names, weights and when they lived when I was 5-6 years old. I loved Dinosaurs. I use to love movies with dinosaurs like Valley of Gwangi, King Kong etc.

If this whole article isn’t about my 3 yo… He will be 4 next week (Dino party of course) I am on Dino overload around here. He will correct you and tell you which one is a cornivore and which is a herbivore. It fascinates me how much he loves them! He watches them on YouTube and loves to “battle” on thr Jurassic World Live game!

My daughter Eleanor is 4 and is OBSESSED with everything dinosaurs. She loves to start to sound their names out and make me guess which one she is naming. She can tell me the names, what they ate, when they lived and what area they lived in. I try to encourage it as much as possible. She will proudly tell everyone she meets that she wants to be a paleontologist when she grows up. Recently I took her to Jurassic Quest and that was an all day event. I highly recommend it. All of their dinosaurs are life size and it is really fascinating to see how big they really were.
But I totally agree with what this artice has to say about the advancement in children that focus in on one topic because Eleanor has never been to any type of school and she knows her alphabet and numbers to 100. She understand basic addition and subtraction. And can count by 10s. She even has basic reading skills and her sentences are amazing. Just the other day she picked up my guitar and just started strumming randomly and started singing twinkle twinkle little star. So their is definitely a stronger attraction to math, science and music.

You can hire an private plane for a trip over the forbidden jungle where Jurassic Park was filed. Did that with my son when he wa 8, now he’s studying for 2 PhD’s to become an international professor and he speaks 7 languages. Give your child every opportunity that you can afford to learn and engage, dinosaurs are still my son’s first love, he’s 25!

My son is obsessed with them! He is 9 and has been a dinosaur addict since we was a one year old. In fact his first Dino toy was Rexy from Toy Story! He studies on You Tube, books and anything in between. He also is a huge fan of Ryan’s Toys where he also becomes a critic and makes his own videos. He is an amazing artist when comes to drawing them too. He just did a presentation on how to draw a hybrid Gallimimus! Yes I had to google that Anyway glad to have found this article months ago but it resurfaced on FB and I was tagged several times. Not only is my son learning about dinosaurs but he’s also connecting so many people about his knowledge on them! He wants to become a paleo artist and draw dinosaur species. I think he’s got an amazing start! I’m hoping this summer to take him on a road trip out West to South Dakota and Wyoming if we can afford it. Thank you for posting the article because I’m one crazy dinosaur mom that loves reading it.

When my oldest son was in pre school he told the teacher he wanted to be a paleontologist. She told me, “I had to look it up!” He was 5! Lol

My 4 year old is obsessed with dinosaurs! He has memorized a large portion of his favorite book and will recite it as we turn the pages. He does like to correct me if I read something wrong or leave out a word Our favorite book is the National Geographic “Little Kids First BiG Book of Dinosaurs”. It has lots of awesome pictures, scientific information, and the best part for Mommy, a pronunciation of every name.

Our Dino lover watches “Dino Dan” on YouTube. He absolutely loves it and it’s very educational.

My 5 year old son has been obsessed with dinosaurs since he was 2. He as every dino there is to have from mini dinosaurs to dinosaur that are the size of a dog. He knows everything about them… the roars, colors, what they eat, etc. I have paid hundreds of dollars for the different Jurassic Park/ World dinosaurs that are discontinued. I dont have a clue about dinosaurs!!! I must say that my little guy is very smart, intuitive, creative and pay great attention to details. Sometimes I have to ask him where he come from because it seems like he’s been here before. His love for dinosaurs are very much encouraged by myself and my husband. And yes he get a kick out of correcting us when we can not pronounce the names correctly. He sleeps with about 20 or more dinosaurs… but I make sure they are removed from the bed once hes alseep.

The Smithsonian Dinosaurs a Visual Encyclopedia is an awesome addition to a kids library!

Yes! My child is all about the natural sciences and paleontology. He’s loved dinosaurs since he was small But from the moment he learned about Charles Darwin in fifth grade, he was hooked and has never looked back. He is now in college majoring in Geology – Earth Sciences and minoring in Biology and hopes to at least get his Master‘s in Paleontology. He is a self-taught “expert” on the subject. He writes paleontology articles for digital magazines. He’s also been volunteering at the LA County Museum of Natural History for six years and hopes to make his career at a museum or academic institution. All because of his childhood love of dinosaurs!

My 5 year old son is so obsessed about dinosaurs! He has a lot of encyclopedia books about dinosaurs. His room is so filled up with dinos and call his room a jungle room..

I forgot to mention in my post… for YouTube if you are not familiar with Toy Lab TV, that’s another thing your child might love, I know mine does. It’s a father and son, Ranger Aaron and Ranger LB, they go on imaginary dinosaur and Jurrasic park adventures, play with the latest Dino toys and do all things Dino.

Our 8 yr old son is autistic. He lives and breathes dinosaurs. From the time he wakes till he goes to sleep. There isn’t much he doesn’t know about them. It’s exciting and exhausting for us at the same time. But it keeps him focused, so we keep going with it. We have also found a way to intergrade it with his schooling. And what a difference.

Dinosaur train on PBS is great for kids. Educational and animated. We took our son to Jurassic World the traveling show and that is where his love of Dinos started.

Gave my grandson the National Geographic Kids Ultimate Dinopedia: The Most Complete Dinosaur Reference Ever when he turned 3 last month. Loves it, he will follow me with that book till we have a chance to sit down and read it and it is a big heavy book! We have gone thru it many times, right now just looking at the pictures, and pronouncing the names. He does a better job than I do. He knows which ones are carnivores, which are herbivores, any facts that I told him, and he tells me which ones he likes and doesn’t like. He has been in love with dinosaurs for over a year and has many different ones. He also has an undying love for trains and construction vehicles. But dino’s are edging them out right now. Lol He probably has over a dozen dino books besides the ones he brings home from the library and if it doesn’t have a dino on it he doesn’t want to wear it, unless it is a train. After hanging out with him I am singing “brachiosaurus, he has a long neck” for the rest of the day.
P.S. his five year old sister knows the word paleontologist by sight. Another smart cookie!

my first born is really obsessed with dinosaurs 90% of his toys are dinosaurs,, I do think hes above average,, for a 3 yr old kid

My son first met a dinosaur after he turned 2 but now they have become best friends. He turned 5 last month and he can identify dinosaurs by their physical features such as the ears, mouth, teeth, tail, spines, neck. Through his love for dinosaurs, he has been able to learn the concept of Herbivores and Carnivores. To feed his interest, I supply dinosaur encyclopedias, which he says are his favourite story books! He drew an illustration of Jurassic Park at the age of 4 by memory and it continues to be my favourite drawing which is going up on the family wall very soon! Each extended family member knows at least 5 popular dino names because of him. This is a huge achievement considering the fact that we all thought Dinosaur is a name of the animal

Loved reading this one! My four yo is a BIG dino fan!

I have twin boys and they absolutely love Dinos. Before they even turned 2 years old they could identify about 10 dinos..match up their shapes, we bought some toy Dinos. I can say go find the Brachiosaurus,T Rex ,Stegasaurus to name a few and they’ll go get the toy and take it to the window and match it with the sticker. Pretty amazing.. @twinwades

My son was obsessed with dinosaurs around age 10. Our whole family went on a dinosaur mission and drove for three days to dinosaur country, in outback Queensland where there are dinosaur museums and Dino footprints etc etc. It was a two week epic adventure and we all still remember it so clearly and talk about it a lot.

I let my kids have a Dino eating contest by setting out spinach in a plate and they had to put their hands behind their back and eat like a dinosaur now they always ask for Dino food. Found the idea online somewhere. At least their eating veggies! Their 4 & 5 btw.

My daughter is 11 and has been obsessed with dinosaurs since she was 3. She has always wanted to be a peoloentologist since she knew what one was. I have encouraged her by buying her books, watching videos ect. When she was 8-ish we took a trip to LA and went tot heir natural history museum, which has a huge dinosaur exhibit, and the La Brea tar pits. This summer I’m hoping to make a trip to the John Day fossil beds in Oregon.

In the early 1990’s I bought the entire dinosaur encyclopedia for my 2 kids. They loved them and loved playing with the toy dinosaurs I bought at the dime store. I hated giving them away when they grew up. Both my son and daughter. Are very talented artists.

“I’m a dinosaur” on YouTube is great, Dino Dan, Dino Dana, and Dinosaur Train (you can get all on Amazon) are also fantastic. Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, and Walking with Monsters: Before the Dinosaurs are all great movies from a BBC series. For something less documentary and more story telling (with education) try Dino King. Papo and Schliec make excellent dinosaur/ prehistoric reptile/prehistoric mammal toys. For events, search small museums for fossil talks, or larger events like Jurassic Quest. Buy some cheap dinosaur skeleton toys and put them in a sandbox for an excavation dig. There are a TON of dino books (my two year old loves the ones that make sounds. ) But the best piece of advice I can offer is watch the shows and read the books with your kids. Learn with them. And always acknowledge when they correct you on something. Feeling like they know more than their parents is s huge drive for kids. Plus there are so many documentaries on Netflix and Amazon about dinosaurs. It’s awesome.

My son was definitely obsessed with dinosaurs. He is 4 years old. One day we were watching Blue Planet II and he watched the episode with cuttlefish and from that day forward he has been very focused in learning everything there is about cuttlefish and octopuses. It’s amazing to see our little ones super interested in specific things.

We have a collection of cheap or homemade dinosaur hats for our kids to wear. They’re nothing fancy, but they serve their purpose and the kids know exactly what each one represents.

When it’s time to play dinosaur (when isn’t it?) Dad draws each kid a card with a number corresponding to a hat (because I can’t say those names). This keeps the big kids from always being the predators ‘preying’ on the littler ones. It also lets them learn about the different roles different dinos had besides their favorite ones.

And it’s a lot easier to pass a dinosaur a carrot stick when you can say ‘parasauralophus didn’t eat cake, remember?’ Or ‘you’re a raptor, you can have either a hard boiled egg or some ham.’

Our eldest is the one most obsessed with dinosaurs but the younger ones like stomping around and roaring too. At least I always know where they are.

I was one of those kids. I drew a Tyrannosaurus rex aged 5 based on memory. All by free hand.

Hi, I’m Jill!

I am a mom of 3 awesome boys that love to get crafty with me in the kitchen. Our blog is full of all sorts creative food ideas for the Holidays, Party Ideas, Free Printables, Featured DIY Ideas, Recipes, & Kids Craft Ideas!

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